COVENTRY complete their regular Championship season tomorrow at sixth-placed Nottingham with rugby director Phil Maynard looking for a fully focused performance over the whole 80 minutes.

It is Cov’s second visit to Meadown Lane in three weeks and the 43-17 British & Irish Cup defeat – when they conceded three tries in each of two separate eight-minute bursts – is still fresh in the memory.

“The key thing about tomorrow is to show that we have learned the lessons from that game,” said Maynard.

“We’ve gone through all the mistakes we made against a very confident Nottingham side, who were only too quick to punish us, and it just underlined that we have to stay focused throughout the whole course of a game.

“There have been a lot of disappointing moments this season, for many reasons, but that was particularly so because we played well for long periods but had lapses of concentration in each half and really paid for it.

“We have got to keep our foot on the gas all the time.”

Maynard will finalise his side today but expects to give Chris Mahony, who impressed as a replacement at Neath last week, his first start at full-back with Ben Russell at fly-half in place of Fangatapu Apikotoa, who is nursing a rib injury.

Front row pair Jamie Hall and Ross McMillan have both been ill this week, so either Scott Roberts or Rob Dugard is likely to start at tight head prop with Matt Dwyer at hooker and No.8 Alex Shaw will probably be on the bench after picking up a slight calf injury in the 29-24 defeat Neath.

“It was a tough encounter but it’s never any different down there,” said Maynard. “Neath know how to win a game but I thought we played some good rugby and scored some good tries to come out of it with credit.

“This is the last chance for these guys to stake a claim and show that they want to be there for the first play-off game next week, and it is important that we see improvement in a number of areas.” Cov, who are playing their fifth successive away game, will be on the road again next week for the first of their six relegation play-off games against either Moseley, Rotherham or Plymouth Albion depending on the results of tomorrow’s games, which all kick off at 3pm.

“It’s going to be an interesting finish to the season,” added Maynard. “All three of them have a difficult away game but could pull it off.

“But it won’t matter who we end up playing. We have been working towards this for some time, since before Christmas, and we will only worry about what we are doing and concentrate on our own performance.”